Seafood Alley

Dropped by one afternoon after work and brought some takeout home. After reading several reviews I decided to try this place out. Plus, it was right down the street from some of my favorites establishments including Tapio, Five Loaves, and Xiao Bao Biscuit just to name a few.
Environment: I parked directly in font of the place and was surrounded by a lot of foot traffic. My first impressions were this was not a place if you have kids or I wouldn’t even have my wife go alone. Right across the street were several homeless guys sitting on the sidewalk and appeared like waiting for a bus or something. When I walked in, there were two other ladies waiting for takeout. There were no tables to eat at and mainly looked like a place you can buy fresh seafood to be prepared and cooked at home. There was a menu on the wall, along with several paper menus everywhere including the cashier counter.
Service: I glanced at the menu and decided to go with an order of «Garlic Shrimp» for $ 15.99. There were no descriptions on there, just the fact that they came with approximately (12 – 16 count). The lady took my order, charged my card and told me that it would be like 15 minutes. After standing for that long with no available seating, I finally got my order.
Food: After driving all the home, I finally was able to taste the seafood I was yearning and able to see what I ordered versus the box it was in. The shrimp tasted okay for me, however, my wife thought it was kind of too spicy for her taste. The shrimp was covered with crushed red pepper and had a strong salty flavor. After my wife’s comment, I realized the only thing I could really fast was the red pepper. We believe, without the red pepper, they may actually have a decent flavor. My suggestion to the place is either describe the dish on the menu for those who would not have ordered it if they knew how spicy it was.
Price: On the high end for what you got. For $ 15.99 + tax, you could go to another seafood restaurant and get your seafood craving.

I happened upon this place while just walking in the area around my hotel. Skeptically, I went in for an Alkaline water iced tea but they were out. Like another poster said the smell of not so fresh fish greets you at the door. But for some reason I ordered a fish sandwich. I was still skeptical when the young woman who was pleasant enough came out from behind the counter and proceeded to select the fish from a ice freezer. I didn’t inspect the fish (I would not have known how anyway). She then proceeded to the kitchen area to prep and clean the fish, I then realized how long this would take and proceeded to cancel my order. At that moment another customer came in and she began raving about the crab and the seasoning for the crab. I had a change of heart and decided to proceed with my order but I remained Skeptical. Did I mention I was skeptical???
My skepticism grew when the now fillet prepped fish was taken outside somewhere to be cooked. I had paid $ 8.00 for this sandwich and was prepared to throw it away. I just knew that fish held my future demise from food poisoning. I waited some more and finally my fish came back to me smelling like, well a little bit of heaven. They placed it on a soft bun with my sandwich paraphernalia (lettuce, tomato etc) the young lady even gave me a whole pickle for my wait.
This place could definitely spruce up there storefront and business model. Both are uninviting but the delectable sandwich was EVERYTHING! Just enough spice, just enough everything.
I did not get sick, in fact I wolfed down my entire sandwich while waiting to board a tour bus.
I even considered cutting my tour short to catch another sandwich before they closed

Came there on a Saturday and I was just unimpressed. Tried to order a sandwich and apparently they only had 1 meat left. Tried to get a smoothie and they only had 2 fruits left. Place was hot and smelled like fish… Not fresh we have a lot of fish from the water smell… More like its warm enough for the guys there to be sweating and the fish to be smelly. The puppy dog behind the counter didn’t give me high hopes for the fish there. The card reader was having problems and I ended up tossing my smoothie in the trash after a couple sips. No bueno

SOO happy to see they are getting great reviews!!! I met them on their first open day last year!!! Had only 5 $ in my pocket and purchased as much shrimp as I could!
I MISS CHARLESTON’s SEAFOOD!!! I put some pics up. take a look! YUMMY Support this great family shop & local folks!

Really, really surprised there aren’t many reviews for this amazing little spot. They usually have 5 — 10 choices of local catch on ice. Check the eyes for fogginess, if they are foggy, steer clear. You’ll see this happen in some larger grocery stores. But all the fish at seafood alley always look quite fresh. That their product changes with what’s in season is definitely a good thing.
Here’s what’s up:
These guys often have blue crab when other places run out. Shh… don’t go blabbing that around. And they’re often heavy handed by a few when you order a dozen.
Staff is quite helpful, but may not chat you up too much. Just a real place with real people and real, real good fresh seafood.
CC machine wasn’t running some times when I went in, other times, it’s been fine.

Hard to believe this doesn’t have any internet presence at all. Very friendly workers here, and lots of different kinds of fresh seafood. They also sell deviled crabs for $ 2. Hoping to get a bushel of oysters later this season!